[Time slipped away like sand you could never hold between your fingers, quietly passing amid day after day of calculations and monotonous observations. In the blink of an eye, the numbers on the calendar had changed, and the world had unwittingly entered 2020.]
[The new year arrived on schedule, accompanied by the annual system card draw.]
[Along with that utterly familiar, emotionless system notification deep in your mind, a Card emitting a faint, dim glow slowly turned over in your mental space before finally settling.]
Muscle Fiber Micro-Frequency Heating [N]
[A detailed description of its effect appeared beneath the Card: control the deep muscles throughout the body to produce high-frequency "microscopic tremors" invisible to the naked eye.]
[The tactical value assessment read: purely physical heat generation.]
[In an ice cellar or extremely cold waters, even without any clothing for warmth, this high-frequency muscular friction, working like an internal combustion engine, could forcibly maintain your core temperature and prevent your internal organs from shutting down completely due to hypothermia.]
[You looked at the N-rank Card with its grayish-white glow without a ripple of emotion. You barely even blinked.]
[It was indeed an ability that could save a life in an extreme survival situation, but for you as you were now, it had no use whatsoever.]
[Setting aside how your current physical strength and enormous reserves of cursed energy already allowed you to disregard most extreme climates, even your everyday surroundings had largely left behind the primitive conditions in which you would need to shiver your muscles to keep warm in the ice and snow.]
[You sighed, and with a thought, sent this largely impractical N-rank Card straight into the depths of your bottomless card collection to gather dust in a corner.]
[Over the course of this year, you made